A Law's Muddled Course

Updated Feb. 22, 2001 12:01 a.m. ET

ENJOY THE TALES that enliven the debate over changing the federal bankruptcy law, but disregard them. Like so many other arguments, this one is driven by outrageous anecdotes that divert attention from what is truly important.

There's the shoe salesman and his wife, a restaurant manager, with combined take-home pay of $3,200 a month who ran up $237,000 in debt on 30 credit cards before going to court. There's the former baseball...